Budget for feature discovery and adoption
When developing a budget for implementation of a new AMS, one recommendation I always make to my clients is to budget for things staff will discover they want to do once they've learned how to use the new system.
In a nutshell, once staff has started using the new AMS and discover all the new functionality that it brings, they'll want to start using that functionality. Using the new functionality may require training and/or vendor support, so budgeting for this is important. (The vendors are aware of this. For example, Salesforce training calls this "feature discovery and adoption.")
Although on the surface this looks like just one more item for the expense column, feature discovery and adoption is actually a really good thing. What it means is the staff is using the system! And they are trying to get the system to do even more work for them.
As I've written before, user adoption is key to long-term data management success. Feature discovery and adoption is a great illustration of user adoption and one that should be strongly encouraged. So be sure to budget for it.
![]()
Wes's Wednesday Wisdom Archives
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should I’ve worked in and with associations for well […]
Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful
Data doesn’t need to be perfect to be useful “Your data doesn’t have to be […]
Don’t just clean data, clean reports and queries
Don’t just clean data, clean reports and queries One of the reasons I exhort my […]
Don’t forget, your staff have day jobs…
Don’t forget, your staff have day jobs… The vast majority of my work is finite […]
Beware the automated “How did we do?” trap!
Beware the automated “How did we do?” trap! One of the downsides of technology is […]
Hindsight is 20/20
Hindsight is 20/20 I’m currently working with a client that is moving from their legacy […]
Cheaper now; costlier later.
Cheaper now; costlier later. Most of my clients are very cost-conscious, understandably. After all, who […]
The unified shopping cart: Dreams vs. reality
The unified shopping cart: Dreams vs. reality One of the more common requests I hear […]
Don’t forget to celebrate!
Don’t forget to celebrate! Truth be told, I’m not a big celebrator. (Maybe it’s because […]
Three thoughts on duplicate records
Three thoughts on duplicate records Duplicate records are a reality in any database of any size, […]
